April 5, 2009

Silly season is the term generally given to the period between the end of a season and the beginning of a new one. It is given this name due to the outrageous number of players linked to an obscene amount of clubs. Supporters hopes are raised and deflated based on the superstar names that are linked with their teams. Many of these never come to fruition and the prospective transfers fade. Some however are completed and so the cycle goes around and supporters are given a very ‘silly’ feeling.

Most European leagues are still eight weeks from completion so it is very surprising to have the same ‘silly’ feeling now. Based on quite a few bizarre happenings the world of football is currently experiencing an out of season silly season. Let’s go through a few shall we –

Argentina’s 6-1 annihilation at the hands of Bolivia in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier in La Paz was just a tad silly. All excuses aside (including the reoccurring altitude debate), Argentina were just simply outplayed. A bizarre story inside the crazy result is that the world class Argentinean ace – Lionel Messi was completely shown up by the little known Bolivian, Joaquin Botero, who plys his trade in the Mexican second division for Correcaminos. Argentina will come good, but this certainly was a strange result for the two time World Cup winners.

Newcastle United, who are deeply entrenched in a relegation dog fight, have appointed a caretaker manager for their last eight games who has no managerial experience. My hat goes off to you Mr. Shearer for being such a prolific goal scorer in the Premier League during your playing days, but surely your appointment to one of the Premier Leagues biggest clubs (in terms of size and support – clearly not on results) is far too premature. I know that he is regarded as a club legend, but it will be interesting to see if he retains the same status amongst the Toonami once he has taken the one million pounds he has been guaranteed and has led Newcastle to relegation for the first time since 1993.

Liverpool are still within touching distance of Manchester United (did I type that correctly?). After both sides securing victories in injury time this past weekend the title is still very much up for grabs. There will be no easy games remaining for either side and the premiers (whoever they will be) could be decided on the last day of the season. I bleed Liverpool Red, however, it feels a bit silly that we are still in the title race given the embarrassing loss we had against Middlesborough a month a go.

Still on the topic of Manchester United, how silly is Cristiano Ronaldo’s haircut. Ok, not silly – completely ridiculous. I’d also say that he is silly for acting like a two year old with all the whining and arm throwing he does, but I haven’t really come to expect much more from the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year.

Joshua Kennedy not being able to get a game at Karlsruhe in Germany is silly. With the flashy figures of six goals from twelve appearances in the Green and Gold (should it be the other way around now that the shirt is predominately Gold?) where many have come from off the bench, how can the struggling German side not give him a run? I know that his scoring form for club isn’t as good as it for the national side, but surely when your side can’t buy a win and are sinking faster than the titanic, shouldn’t you give a goal scorer some time on the field? If, or should I say when, Karlsruhe are relegated, Edmund Becker (the manager at Karlsruhe) will only have one person to blame and that is himself for not giving the 194 cm tall Australian more time on the field. Very silly indeed.